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UN Chief Calls for Israel to Re-Open Gaza Crossings amid Fuel Shortage

Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, shelter at a tent camp in Gaza City, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, shelter at a tent camp in Gaza City, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Calls for Israel to Re-Open Gaza Crossings amid Fuel Shortage

Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, shelter at a tent camp in Gaza City, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians displaced during the two-year Israeli offensive, shelter at a tent camp in Gaza City, March 1, 2026. (Reuters)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Monday for Israel to re-open border crossings into Gaza to allow aid to flow into the war-ravaged territory, his spokesman said.

"Israeli authorities have closed all crossings, including Rafah, and have suspended humanitarian movements in and near areas where Israeli troops remain deployed in Gaza," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"It is imperative that all crossings be reopened... as soon as possible."

Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples may become tight, officials say, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. 

Israel's military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing air strikes on Iran carried out jointly with the United States. Israeli authorities say the crossings cannot be operated safely during war and have not said how long they would be shut. 

FEW DAYS' ‌WORTH OF SUPPLIES 

Gaza ‌is wholly dependent on fuel brought in ‌by ⁠trucks from Israel and ⁠Egypt and a lack of fresh supplies would put hospital operations at risk and threaten water and sanitation services, local officials say. Most Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced after Israel's two-year war with Hamas. 

"I expect we have maybe a couple of days' running time," said Karuna Herrmann, the Jerusalem director of United Nations Office ⁠for Project Services (UNOPS), which manages fuel distribution in ‌Gaza. 

Amjad Al-Shawa, a Palestinian aid leader ‌in Gaza, who works with the UN and NGOs, estimated fuel supplies ‌could last three or four days, while stocks of vegetables, flour, ‌and other essentials could also soon run out if the crossings remain shut. 

Reuters was unable to independently verify those estimates. 

Israel's COGAT military agency, which controls access to Gaza, said that enough food had been delivered ‌to the territory since the start of an October truce to provide for the population. 

"(The) existing stock ⁠is expected ⁠to suffice for an extended period," COGAT said, without elaborating. It declined to comment on potential fuel shortages. 

The truce was part of broader US-backed plan to end the war that involves reopening the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, increasing the flow of aid into the enclave, and rebuilding it. 

Hamada Abu Laila, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza, said the closures were stoking fear of a return of famine, which gripped parts of the enclave last year after Israel blocked aid deliveries for 11 weeks. 

"Why is it our fault, in Gaza, with regional wars between Israel, Iran, and America? It is not our fault," Abu Laila said. 

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Arab World

Iraq Hands Over Two Cleared ISIS Suspects to US, Finland

US military vehicles move along a road in a convoy transporting ISIS group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 7, 2026. (AFP)
US military vehicles move along a road in a convoy transporting ISIS group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Iraq Hands Over Two Cleared ISIS Suspects to US, Finland

US military vehicles move along a road in a convoy transporting ISIS group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 7, 2026. (AFP)
US military vehicles move along a road in a convoy transporting ISIS group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria, on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 7, 2026. (AFP)

Iraq's judiciary said Tuesday it had handed over two detained foreigners, from Finland and the United States, to their countries after finding that had not been ISIS group members.

Many prisons in Iraq are packed with ISIS suspects.

In February, the United States completed the transfer of 5,700 ISIS detainees, including hundreds of foreigners, from Syria to Iraq.

The National Center for International Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC) said it has handed "two suspects -- a minor from Finland and another from the United States -- to the competent authorities in their countries after it was confirmed that they don't belong to the ISIS terrorists."

"The handover took place after all legal and judicial procedures were completed," the judiciary said in a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

The judiciary did not specify whether the two detainees referred to were among those who had been transferred from Syria.

Upon the detainees' arrival in Iraq, the judiciary began interrogations before taking legal action against suspects from some 60 countries.

These include 3,543 Syrians, 467 Iraqis and 710 detainees from other Arab nations.

There are also more than 980 foreigners including from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States.

ISIS swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres. Iraq, backed by US-led forces, proclaimed victory over ISIS in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces ultimately defeated the group in Syria two years later.

Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life terms to those convicted of terrorism offences, including foreign fighters.

Arab World

UN Official: War Pushes Seven in 10 Sudanese Into Poverty

Saddam Najwa, a malnourished, 17-month-old internally displaced child reaches out for a cup of water at the paediatric ward of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, near Kauda, within the Sudan's People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area of the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan June 25, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
Saddam Najwa, a malnourished, 17-month-old internally displaced child reaches out for a cup of water at the paediatric ward of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, near Kauda, within the Sudan's People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area of the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan June 25, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
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UN Official: War Pushes Seven in 10 Sudanese Into Poverty

Saddam Najwa, a malnourished, 17-month-old internally displaced child reaches out for a cup of water at the paediatric ward of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, near Kauda, within the Sudan's People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area of the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan June 25, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
Saddam Najwa, a malnourished, 17-month-old internally displaced child reaches out for a cup of water at the paediatric ward of the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, near Kauda, within the Sudan's People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area of the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan June 25, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

Around seven in 10 people in Sudan are now living in poverty, a senior UN official told AFP on Tuesday, nearly twice as many as before the war between the army and paramilitary forces broke out three years ago.

"Before the war, we were probably looking (at) around 38 percent of people living in poverty, and now we are estimating about 70 percent," said the UN Development Programme's Sudan representative Luca Renda, as the agency released a new report on poverty timed to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war.

The figures Renda cited were based on a poverty line of about $4 a day, while at least a quarter of the population is believed to be surviving on less than half that, he said.

Conditions are particularly severe in some of the worst-affected areas, including parts of southern Kordofan, now the war's main battleground, and North Darfur, where as many as 70 to 75 percent of people are living in deprivation, Renda added.

Now in its fourth year, the war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million, and thrust several areas into hunger and famine.

Donors are due to gather in Berlin on Wednesday for an international conference on the conflict, aimed at reviving faltering peace talks and mobilizing aid for one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"Three years into this conflict, we are not just facing a crisis -- we are witnessing the systematic erosion of a country's future," Renda said.

The UNDP report found that nearly seven million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2023 alone, while average incomes have fallen to levels last seen in 1992. Extreme poverty rates are now worse than in the 1980s, according to the report.

"These figures are not abstract," Renda said. "They reflect families torn apart, children out of school, livelihoods lost and a generation whose prospects are steadily diminishing."

More than 21 million people in Sudan face acute food insecurity, while two-thirds of the population urgently needs assistance, according to the UN.

Analysts, meanwhile, see little sign of de-escalation, with fighting intensifying in the Kordofan region and Blue Nile state, and drone attacks killing more than 500 civilians between January and mid-March, the UN said.

Arab World

Iraq's Coordination Framework Close to Naming Candidate for PM's Post

02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf. (dpa)
02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf. (dpa)
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Iraq's Coordination Framework Close to Naming Candidate for PM's Post

02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf. (dpa)
02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf. (dpa)

Iraq's pro-Iran Coordination Framework is leaning towards nominating Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for a second term days after the election of Nizar Amedi as president.

This would mean abandoning the nomination of former PM Nouri al-Maliki, whose chances of becoming premier are nil after US President Donald Trump’s declaration that he opposes his candidacy.

Sudani is not the only name being floated. Head of the Justice and Accountability Commission Bassem al-Badri and former PM Haidar al-Abadi are seen as “consensus” candidates.

A leading source in the Framework told Asharq Al-Awsat that the coalition has no more than two weeks to decide on a candidate.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the coalition wants to take advantage of the truce between the United States and Iran to name a candidate and form a government.

A new candidate may be named very soon, he added.

He acknowledged the complex relations and divisions within the Framework, stressing however that time was running out for its members to name a candidate before the US-Iran war erupts again.

The source highlighted the “pivotal” role played by President of the Supreme Judicial Council Faiq Zaidan in trying to overcome differences and ensure that a candidate is named within the constitutional deadline.

On the possible candidates, the source said it was difficult to identify who has the greatest chances, but it is certain that Maliki is out of the race.

Sudani remains a strong candidate, while Abadi and Badri are also in the running. A fourth figure may also emerge as a candidate, he revealed.

On why Maliki continues to cling on to his nomination, the source explained that the former PM is awaiting the Framework to withdraw his candidacy because it named him in the first place.

He believes that there is no justification for him to pull out from the race unless the Framework decides so to avoid being viewed as having yielded to American pressure, the source said.

Meanwhile, Maliki appears to have become isolated within the Framework and he is now seeking to obstruct efforts to nominate Sudani and Abadi in an effort to portray himself as playing a major role in naming a prime minister.

Reports said that Maliki had informed the Framework of his readiness to quit the race in exchange for the coalition refraining from nominating Sudani for a second term.

He also demanded that it refrain from naming a former PM to the post, a reference to Abadi who was a member of Maliki’s Dawa party.

President of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Humam Hamoudi said on Sunday the Framework has no more than two weeks to name a candidate, urging consensus or a majority agreement over the issue.

“The new government will have fundamental challenges ahead of it, starting with building an army capable of defending Iraq’s sovereignty and activating diplomacy to bolster partnerships with neighboring countries to help consolidate regional security and stability,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Sudani and his Construction and Development Coalition are committed to his candidacy.

Sources within his alliance believe he is “close to being appointed” by the president to form a new government.

Leading member of the coalition Khalid Walid told local media on Monday that Sudani enjoys the support of the majority of the members of the Framework.

He believes that the coming 48 hours will be decisive for Sudani’s candidacy, especially amid the challenges facing Iraq that demand the formation of a government that enjoys broad political support and that can overcome the crises at hand.